1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc changer, and more particularly, to an optical disc changer in which the structure of a damping unit to absorb shock when a tray is loaded in or unloaded from a main body is improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, optical disc drives reproduce information recorded on optical discs such as CDs or DVDs which are optical recording media by using optical pickup devices. When an optical disc is placed on a tray and loaded in a drive, a drive unit rotates the optical disc. An optical pickup device mounted at the lower end of the tray reproduces data recorded on the optical disc while being transferred in a radial direction of the optical disc.
Since only one optical disc is accommodated on the tray of the optical disc drive, if a user wishes to reproduce data from a plurality of optical discs, the user must inconveniently repeat operations of ejecting the tray, placing a new optical disc that the user wishes to reproduce data from on the tray, and loading the tray in the disc drive.
To solve the above problems, optical disc changers used to selectively reproduce one of a plurality of optical discs accommodated on a tray, so as not to repeatedly change the optical discs, have been developed.
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a conventional front loading type optical disc changer to select a desired one of a plurality of optical discs accommodated on a tray and to reproduce the selected optical disc by using an optical pickup device. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional optical disc changer 100 includes a main body 110, a tray 150 installed to be capable of being inserted into the main body 110, a roulette 160 rotatably installed on the tray 150 and where a plurality of optical discs are accommodated, an optical pickup device 120 to read information from a desired one of the optical discs accommodated on the roulette 160, and a damper support unit 131 installed above the optical pickup device 120 to support a damper 130 which clamps the optical disc against the optical pickup device 120.
In the optical disc changer 100 having the above structure, there is a need to load or unload the tray 150 while one of the optical discs is selected and being reproduced by using the optical pickup device 120. When the tray 150 is unloaded, the optical disc being reproduced by the optical pickup device 120 continues to be reproduced while the remaining optical discs being accommodated on the roulette 160 are unloaded together with the tray 150.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the optical disc changer of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, a hooking member 151 is formed at both sides of the bottom of the tray 150 in a direction in which the tray is loaded and a hooking protrusion 111 is formed at each of corresponding positions of a main body 110. Thus, when the tray 150 is unloaded from the main body 110, the hooking member 151 is hooked by the hooking protrusion 111 and the tray 150 is refrained from further unloading. Here, as the hooking member 151 is caught by the hooking protrusion 111, the tray 150 receives a shock. Meanwhile, when the tray 150 is completely loaded in the main body 110, the tray 150 bumps against the clamp support member 131 and receives a shock. The shock is delivered to the optical pickup device 120 which reproduces one of the optical discs so that reproduction of the optical disc deteriorates.
Thus, a damper 112 to absorb shock is provided on the clamp support portion 131. Since the damper 112 is formed of rubber, it absorbs shock when the tray being loaded bumps against the clamp support portion 131.
When the tray 150 is unloaded, the hooking portion 151 directly bumps against the hooking protrusion 111, causing shock. However, there is no separate damping means to absorb shock, resulting in a deterioration of the reproduction of data from an optical disc.